Yerevan, February 19, Amen Press. Azerbaijan is desecrating Armenian graves in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia’s ambassador to Belgium and head of the Armenian mission to the European Union, Tigran Balayan, told Brussels Signal.
Tigran Balayan told Brussels Signal that Azerbaijan has started destroying religious artifacts belonging to the region’s former Armenians, the majority of whom have since fled the territory.
“The war against Armenian cemeteries has begun,” the official said in an interview with Brussels Signal’s news director Justin Starz.
“We have a lot of video and photographic evidence that they are starting to destroy graveyards and churches in the village.”
Balayan also claimed that they were also destroying small churches across Nagorno-Karabakh, and said that a church in his home village had also been destroyed.
Azerbaijan has also removed religious symbols from large buildings, he added.
“The crosses on all Armenian churches in Nagorno-Karabakh have been removed by occupation soldiers,” he said.
Balayan’s claims were in stark contrast to claims made by Azerbaijani officials in recent weeks.
After a period of détente between the two countries in the Caucasus, tensions are once again rising. It happened after a border clash between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces, which resulted in the deaths of four Armenian military personnel.
Speaking to the Brussels Signal, President Eltin Amirbayov insisted that his country remains committed to protecting the rights of Armenians in the disputed territory.
He added that Azerbaijan “welcomes” Armenians who fled the region, saying they have the same right to Azerbaijani citizenship as other ethnic minorities in the country.
Balayan rejected this, saying instead that Azerbaijan had been working to prevent Armenians from returning to Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Some tried to return. They were rejected by Azerbaijan,” he claimed.